1949

August 12, 1949

1969 to 2005, UK

1969/1970. The UK used five techniques (wall-standing, hooding, subjection to noise, deprivation of sleep, and deprivation of food and drink) on at least 14 terrorist suspects in Northern Ireland.

1972 2nd March, "Parker Report" found the five techniques to be illegal (though without declaring them to be torture).

1977, 8 February 1977, the Attorney-General stated to the European Commission of Human Rights (ECHR): The Government of the United Kingdom have considered the question of the use of the 'five techniques' with very great care and with particular regard to Article 3 of the [ECHR] Convention. They now give this unqualified undertaking, that the 'five techniques' will not in any circumstances be reintroduced as an aid to interrogation. (While critical of the techniques, the ECHR had not declared them to be torture).

2005, 9th Dec, the House of Lords cited this case and ruled unanimously that British courts cannot use evidence which might have been extracted by torture in terrorism cases. Lord Bingham of Cornhill delivered the core opinion stating that in the history of British common law torture was "repugnant to reason, justice, and humanity" while Lord Brown branded it "an unqualified evil with no place in British justice".

1992

September 28, 1992

The army releases a revised version of the field manual on intelligence collection.

September 2001

September 11, 2001

September 16, 2001

"We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will. We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we're going to be successful."

September 23, 2001

September 25, 2001

John Yoo at OLC sends a memo to deputy White House counsel Tim Flanigan, asserting expansive presidential authority to use military force, at home and abroad, to combat terrorism and other security threats. The president may use military action to retaliate to attacks, as well as to prevent them, and the president alone has the authority to determine threats.

October 2001

In October 2001, 6 eventual Guantanamo detainees are captured in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Source: NYT timeline)

October 4, 2001

Department of State sends a one page fax to NSC and DOD, concerning the Geneva Conventions. (Source: Vaughn index)

October 7, 2001

Bombing of Afghanistan begins.

October 10 to 12, 2001

October 23, 2001

John Yoo and Robert Delahunty at OLC send a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, expressing views concerning the legality of potential responses to terrorist activity. The memo asserts that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to military operations, even when the operations take place on U.S. soil. "First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully.”

November 2001

In November 2001, 27 eventual Guantanamo detainees are captured in Afghanistan, 6 in Pakistan, and 6 near the Pakistan-Afghan border. (Source: NYT timeline)

Before November 6, 2001

David Addington first suggests using a presidential order to establish a military tribunal plan. Brad Berenson, Tim Flanigan and Addington write the draft order. Military lawyers, the State Department, and the National Security Council are cut out of the process. (Source: Washington Post, 1/5/2005)

November 6, 2001

Military Commission memo - Pat Philbin at OLC sends a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, asserting that the president may establish military commissions to try terrorists without consulting Congress. In June 2006, arguments similar to this memo will be struck down by the Supreme Court in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

November 10, 2001

In Afghanistan, Mazar-e Sharif is taken by Northern Alliance and U.S. Special Forces.

November 13, 2001

President's Military Order - President George Bush issues a public executive order on the "Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism," specifying military commissions for trial, with rules to be written by the executive branch.

In Afghanistan, Kabul is taken by Northern Alliance forces. "Taliban" flee towards Kandahar and Tora Bora.

November 20, 2001

John Yoo and Robert Delahunty at OLC send a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, providing legal advice on U.S. and international laws that protect prisoners of war. The laws discussed are the War Crimes Act, the set of U.S. laws that American personnel could be prosecuted under if detainees were abused, and the Hague and Geneva Conventions. (Source: Bradbury declaration)

November 25, 2001

John Walker Lindh is captured by Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan. Lindh is questioned by CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann and another officer at General Dostum's military garrison, Qala-i-Jangi, near Mazar-e Sharif.

Uprising at Qala-i-Jangi. Johnny "Mike" Spann is killed.

November 30, 2001

John Yoo and Robert Delahunty at OLC send a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, asserting that law and treaties do not protect al-Qaeda organization, and that the President has "reasonable grounds" to find that treaties do not apply to the Taliban militia.

December 2001

In December 2001, 21 eventual Guantanamo detainees are captured in Afghanistan, 31 in Pakistan, and 63 near the Pakistan-Afghan border. (Source: NYT timeline)

December 6 to 18, 2001

Battle of Tora Bora.

December 9, 2001

David Hicks is captured by the Northern Alliance near Kunduz. He will be turned over to U.S. Special Forces on December 17.

December 18, 2001

Ibn Sheikh al-Libi is captured. (Some sources have November 11.)

Ahmed Agiza and Muhammad Alzery are captured in Sweden and are rendered to Egypt, at the request of the CIA. In Egypt, both men will have their genitals shocked with electrodes, among other torture. (Background: Wikipedia).

December 19, 2001

Ibn Sheikh al-Libi is handed over to the U.S. at Bagram. Initially, FBI agents use rapport-building techniques. al-Libi is said to have given up information about Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid. (Sources: Isikoff and Corn, Hubris, p. 120; New Yorker; American Prospect; historycommons)

December 21, 2001

John Yoo at OLC sends a memo to general counsel Jim Haynes at DOD, about possible charges that might be brought against John Walker Lindh. The memo asserts that people working alongside an armed force would be subject to UCMJ. This could prevent an American citizen captured in the war on terror from gaining the protections of federal courts.

The U.S. transfers Ahmed Agiza and Mohamed al-Zery from Sweden to Egypt. In Egypt, both are tortured including electrical shocks to their genitals.(Source: ghostplane timeline; wikipedia)

December 25, 2001

Fouad Mahmoud Al Rabiah is captured by villagers outside Jalalabad, Afghanistan. He will be handed over to U.S. forces, and sent to Guantanamo.

December 27, 2001

After threats are made against his family in Egypt, Abdallah Higazy confesses to ownership of a two-way radio found at his hotel near the World Trade Center. An airline pilot will come back to claim ownership of the radio in January.

December 28, 2001

Patrick Philbin and John Yoo at OLC send a memo to general counsel Jim Haynes at DOD, about habeas jurisdiction of aliens to be held at Guantanamo. The memo discusses legal exposure, should a captive manage to gain habeas access to a Federal court.

2002

January 2002

January 3, 2002

At the Kandahar airport detention facility, Special Forces soldiers hit, threaten to kill, blow smoke in the face, and shock a prisoner with an electrical device. (Sources: Translator statement; Interrogator statement)

January 7, 2002

Amnesty International writes a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, warning against the "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" of detainees in U.S. custody, and noting that hooding and blindfolding detainees is a violation of the Convention Against Torture.

At about this time, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi is transferred from Afghanistan to the USS Bataan. John Walker Lindh and former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef are also being held on the ship. (Sources: CNN; NYT. See also NYT, New Yorker, American Prospect about rendering to Egypt, sometime in January.)

January 8, 2002

Bagram acknowledged - The US government announces that 38 detainees are being held at Bagram Collection Point. At this stage Bagram is likely considered a temporary collection center, with the primary collection point at Kandahar.

January 9, 2002

John Yoo at OLC sends a memo to DOD general counsel Jim Haynes, asserting that the Third Geneva Convention does not apply to the conflict with al Qaeda or the Taliban in Afghanistan.

January 11, 2002

Jay Bybee at OLC sends a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, discussing the authority of OLC, the Attorney General, DOJ generally, and the State Department to interpret international law. (Source: Bradbury declaration)

William Taft at State sends a memo to John Yoo at OLC, describing Yoo's legal analysis as seriously flawed. The memo warns that "this raises the risk of future criminal prosecution for U.S. civilian and military leadership and their advisers." (Source: GWU)

The U.S. renders Muhammad Saad Iqbal Madni from Indonesia to Egypt. His interrogators are Egyptian, but Americans are always present, and pass notes to the Egyptians. His interrogations include electric shock, beatings, druggings, and a cramped confinement box. (Source: ghostplane timeline; wikipedia)

January 14, 2002

John Yoo and Robert J. Delahunty at OLC send a memo to William H. Taft at State. The memo discusses the War Crimes Act's application to American interrogators. The letter argues that the U.S. government can't be prosecuted for war crimes arising from its treatment of al Qaeda or Taliban members. (Source: Interrogation Memo, p. 34)

January 18, 2002

White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, after reviewing an OLC brief, verbally advises President George Bush that Bush has the authority to exempt the detainees from Geneva Convention protections. (Sources: Gonzales memo 1/25/2002, WaPo, 1/5/2005)

January 19, 2002

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld sends a memo to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, notifying them that "The United States has determined that Al Qaida and Taliban individuals under the control of the Department of Defense are not entitled to prisoner of war status for purposes of the Geneva Conventions of 1949."

January 20, 2002

Jay Bybee sends a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, asserting that common article 3 of the Geneva Convention does not apply to "an armed conflict between a nation-state and a transnational terrorist organization."

Treaties opinion - Jay Bybee sends a memo to Alberto Gonzales and Jim Haynes, asserting that the president has unlimited discretion to suspend treaties.

News photos show captives at Guantanamo in goggles and masks. The photos reveal a sensory deprivation program and use of stress positions. The kneeling stress position is on gravel, with an enforced forward lean to increase back and thigh exhaustion.

January 24, 2002

John Yoo at OLC sends a memo to Larry D. Thompson at DOJ, discussing U.S. obligations under international law. (Source: Bradbury declaration)

January 25, 2002

Alberto Gonzales sends a memo to George Bush, recommending against applying the Geneva Convention to enemy captives. Non-compliance with Geneva "would create a reasonable basis in law that Section 2441 [the War Crimes Act] does not apply, which would provide a solid defense to any future prosecution." The memo is drafted by David Addington. (Sources: Newsweek, 7/3/2004; Gellman, Angler, p. 170; Texas Monthly)

January 26, 2002

Secretary of State Colin Powell sends a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, concerning to draft opinion, and warning of policy considerations about opting out of the Geneva Conventions. (Source: GWU)

About January 28, 2002

At Kandahar detention facility, military intelligence learns of the Taliban tortured-induced confession video of Abdul Rahim al Janko, claimed by DOJ to be a martyrdom video. Al Janko's treatment includes striking his forehead, threatening to remove his fingernails, sleep deprivation, exposure to very cold temperatures, exercise to exhaustion through sit-ups, push-ups, and running in chains, stress positions for hours at a time, use of police dogs, and rough treatment prior to interrogation sessions. (Source: Al Janko complaint)

At Kandahar detention facility, a prisoner is beaten and kicked by three or four guards, for three nights running. (Source: Soldier statement)

February 2002

February 1, 2002

James C. Ho at OLC send a memo to John Yoo at OLC, asserting that Geneva Convention standards don't apply to conflicts with terrorist organizations. (Source: propublica)

Attorney General John Ashcroft sends a memo to President George Bush, asserting that opting out of Geneva "would provide the highest assurance that no court would subsequently entertain charges that American military officers, intelligence officials, or law enforcement officials violated Geneva Convention rules relating to field conduct, detention conduct or interrogation of detainees." (Source: GWU)

February 2, 2002

State counsel William Taft sends a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, arguing in favor of application of the Geneva Conventions on policy grounds.

Taliban are "unlawful combatants" and do not qualify as prisoners of war.

Humane treatment is claimed as a matter of policy, but only to the extent consistent with military necessity.

George Bush summarizes the determination for senior administrative branch officials.

February 12, 2002

Within JPRA, psychologist Bruce Jessen emails an al-Qaeda resistance document to Colonel Randy Moulton, who forwards it up the chain of command. Moulton recommends that a JPRA team be sent to Guantanamo. (Source: SASC report, p. 7)

February 22, 2002

He is being held in Egypt. He breaks and makes the Iraq claims after being held in a very small confinement box. ((Sources: Newsweek; ABC. See: February 4, 2004)

An interrogation team had reported to Vice President Dick Cheney's office that al-Libi had been deemed "compliant". The Vice President's office ordered them to continue the enhanced methods anyways. (Source: Larry Wilkerson)

Reports of waterboarding exist: Al-Libi had been subjected to two weeks of progressively harsher interrogation. He finally broke after being waterboarded and then left to stand naked in his cold cell overnight where he was doused with cold water at regular intervals. (Source: ABC)

February 26, 2002

Jay Bybee at OLC sends a memo to Jim Haynes, general counsel at DOD, about the rights of American citizens captured in the war on terror. "Even if the Government did in fact violate Rule 4.2 by having military lawyers interrogate represented persons (including Mr. Walker) without consent of counsel, it would not follow that the evidence obtained in that questioning would be inadmissible at trial." (Source: GWU)

March 2002

March 5, 2002

March 13, 2002

Transfer opinion - Jay Bybee sends a memo to general counsel Jim Haynes at DOD, asserting presidential power to capture and detain enemies, and to transfer prisoners captured and held overseas to other nations at his discretion. The memo discusses criminal conspiracy to commit torture via rendering prisoners to other nations.

Approximately 20 to 50 people are rounded up in associated Pakistani/FBI raids on March 28-29 in Faisalabad, Multan and Lahore. (Source: CNN; ghostplane timeline)

About March 31, 2002

According to the New York Times, a few days after capture, the injured Abu Zubaydah is flown to a black site in Thailand (Source: NYT). Asia Times suggests a possible location as a military base in the northeastern province of Udon Thani (Source: Asia Times).

According to Zubaydah, he spends several weeks in the hospital following arrest, and is then transferred to Afghanistan, where he spends one and a half to two months. In Afghanistan he is locked in hot confinement boxes, kept shackled to a chair, subjected to cold from an air conditioner, subjected to loud music, and kept naked. (Sources: ICRC report)

According to Ali Soufan, after a few days of FBI interrogation, a CIA team arrives and takes control. The harsh tactics start with nudity and sleep deprivation. Control reverts to the FBI for a few days. CIA introduces loud noise and then temperature manipulation. Control reverts to the FBI for a few days. CIA begins use of the confinement box. Soufan objects and is pulled out. (Source: Soufan testimony; Discussion: emptywheel; Andy Worthington)

Late March, 2002

Martin Mubanga is captured in Zambia by Zambian police and U.S. authorities. He is interrogated by a British man who says he is MI6, and an American woman who says she is a defense official. Mubanga declines their offer to be an undercover agent to penetrate al Qaeda. He will be sent to Guantanamo on April 18. (Source: BBC; wikipedia)

April 8, 2002

April 10, 2002

Binyan Mohamed is arrested at the Karachi airport. In Pakistan, he is beaten, hung from leather straps, and threatened with a firearm by Pakistani intelligence officers. He is also question by MI5 officers. (Source: Guardian)

April 16, 2002

Two CIA officers write a memo for the record, outlining pre-decisional discussions among CIA attorneys and officers, as well as attorneys from other government agencies that occurred in anticipation of a counter-terrorism operation. (Source: Vaughn index)

Within OLC, Jennifer Koester sends a memo to John Yoo, summarizing her research on what will become the Bybee memo. (Source: [1], p. 40.)

May 2002

May 3, 2002

Canadian Abdullah Almalki is imprisoned in Damascus. Within the first two days, he is beaten on the soles of his feet, beaten with a cable, and forced to jog on his beaten soles. On the third day, he is beaten while placed in a stress position involving a tire. He spends the next 482 days in small dark cell, 34 inches wide. (Source: Almalki chronology)

May 6, 2002

John Bolton at State notifies the UN that the U.S. recognizes no obligation under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and does not intend to become a party. The treaty had been signed by Bill Clinton, but not ratified by the Senate.

May 8, 2002

FBI agents arrest Jose Padilla as he is getting off a plane at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. Padilla will be held as a material witness until June 9, 2002.

Roughly May 13, 2002

May 22, 2002

President George Bush nominates Jay Bybee as federal judge for the ninth circuit. Bybee will be confirmed for the position in March 2003.

Mid-May 2002

Attorneys from the CIA’s Office of General Counsel meet with the Attorney General, the National Security Adviser, the Deputy National Security adviser, the Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, and the Counsel to the President to discuss use of alternative interrogation methods. The CIA proposes particular alternative interrogation methods, including waterboarding. (Source: SSCI narrative)

FBI interrogator Ali Soufan leaves the interrogator of Abu Zubaydah, in protest over the implementation of James Mitchell's "learned helplessness" techniques.

June 2002

June 7, 2002

June 8, 2002

Jay Bybee at OLC sends a memo to Attorney General John Ashcroft, asserting military authority to detain Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant.

June 9, 2002

Padilla held as enemy combatant - Two days before District Court Judge Michael Mukasey is to issue a ruling on the validity of continuing to hold Jose Padilla under a material witness warrant, President George Bush issues an order to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to detain Padilla as an "enemy combatant." Padilla is transferred to a military brig in South Carolina.

Unknown June 2002

A combat stress control team arrives at Guantanamo. Team members are surprised to learn they have been assigned to support interrogations, under the newly created Behavioral Science Consultation Team. (Source: SASC report, p. 38; Discussion: Salon)

A CIA operations officer chokes a detainee with a pressure point on the carotid artery. When the detainee falls unconscious, the interrogator shakes him awake, and then chokes him again. (Source: CIA IG report, p. 69)

Use of loud music and strobe lights is reported at Guantanamo between July 2002 and October 2004. (Source: Schmidt report, p. 9)

July 1, 2002

July 8, 2002

In a prison in Damascus, Canadian Abdullah Almalki is allowed 20 minutes in the sun. He notices that his skin is yellow, he is infested with lice bites, and his blanket is growing yellow and black mold. (Source: Almalki chronology)

July 10, 2002

July 13, 2002

CIA OGC meets with John Bellinger, John Yoo, Michael Chertoff, Daniel Levin, and Alberto Gonzales, and provides an overview of the proposed interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah. (Source: SSCI narrative)

John Yoo at OLC sends a memo to counsel John Rizzo at CIA, about the elements of the crime of torture and how to avoid legal liability.

July 15, 2002

FBI agents discover a potential link between Muhammad al Qahtani and Mohammad Atta. The information is briefed to the President and the Attorney General. An FBI unit chief is told of a determination that "not one single [detainee] will see the inside of a courtroom." (Source: DOJ IG report, p. 78)

July 17, 2002

George Tenet meets with Condoleezza Rice, who gives her approval on policy grounds to the proposed interrogation of Abu Zubaydah. (Source: SSCI narrative)

July 18, 2002

In Damascus, Canadian Abdullah Almalki undergoes a new period of beatings. He is forced to hold himself from a metal frame, beaten when he lets go, and becomes less and less able to hang on from the beatings. When he can no longer hang on, he is tied to the frame. After being untied, he is beaten on his back. (Source: Almalki chronology)

July 19, 2002

July 22, 2002

In Rabat, Morocco, the CIA hands over custody of Binyam Mohammad to Moroccan security for interrogation. In Morocco, Mohammad is beaten at regular intervals, and every month he is striped and his penis is cut with a scalpel.

July 24, 2002

John Yoo at OLC telephones John Rizzo at CIA, verbally authorizing a number of torture techniques for use on Abu Zubaydah. Attorney General John Ashcroft is cited as authorizer. The techniques are attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap, cramped confinement, and wall standing. Waterboarding will be approved on July 26. (Sources: SSCI narrative; OPR report, p. 53; Bybee memo, 8/1/2002)

A CIA officer takes one page of handwritten notes, describing proposed interrogation techniques that could be considered for use on detainees. (Source: Vaughn index)

July 25, 2002

DOD OGC asks JPRA for "a list of exploitation and interrogation techniques that had been effective against Americans." (Source: SASC)

Before getting a response, DOD OGC asks for "a list of techniques used by JPRA at SERE school."

In response to the first request, JPRA hand carries a memo with lesson plans on exploitation. (Source: SASC)

DOD produces a document with legal advice. This document will be discovered missing from OLC custody in 2009. (Source: Vaughn index; Discussion: emptywheel)

July 27, 2002

The FBI begins questioning Mohammad al-Khatani. At this point he is held in Camp Delta. (Source: SASC report, p. 58)

July 31, 2002

CIA responds to a DOJ request, and sends 2 memos with information about the physiological effects of an interrogation technique, presumably waterboarding. (Source: Vaughn index)

August 2002

August 1, 2002

Bybee One memo - Jay Bybee at OLC sends a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales about interrogation legal standards and defenses, and interpreting the torture statute. The OLC drafts the memo in response to a CIA request. The memo is principally authored by OLC lawyer John Yoo, with aid from OVP counsel David Addington. The memo will be a primary legal justification for torture, until it is withdrawn in June 2004. (Discussion: SASC report, pp. 31-33; Wikipedia)

Physical pain "must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."

Mental pain "must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g., lasting for months or even years," as well as be the result of one of the specific causes of mental pain contained in 18 USC 2340, "namely: threats of imminent death; threats of infliction of the kind of pain that would amount to physical torture; infliction of such physical pain as a means of psychological torture; use of drugs or other procedures designed to deeply disrupt the senses, or fundamentally alter an individual's personality; or threatening to do any of these things to a third party."

Bybee Two memo - At CIA request, Bybee also sends a memo to John Rizzo at CIA, approving and detailing ten techniques for use on Abu Zubaydah.

August 4, 2002

August 8, 2002

At Guantanamo, Mohammad al-Qahtani is moved to isolation in the Navy brig. He is under FBI custody. His confinement includes constant light, a cold cell, and extreme isolation. (Sources: DOJ IG report; SASC report, p. 58; Schmidt report, p. 18)

August 20, 2002

Around this time, JTF-170 commander Michael Dunlavey and director for intelligence Jerald Phifer urge Interrogation Control Element chief David Becker to be more aggressive in interrogations, and repeatedly ask him why stress positions are not used. (Source: SASC report, p. 41)

August 24, 2002

In Damascus, Canadian Abdullah Almalki is beaten with cables on his feet. The next day, he is taken to another location and interrogated with questions directed by people speaking English. (Source: Almalki chronology)

Unknown August, 2002

During a one week period of especially intense interrogation, he is waterboarded, locked in confinement boxes, beaten, slammed against walls, sleep deprived, subjected to loud music, and deprived of solid food. (Source: ICRC report)

After use of enhanced techniques including the waterboard, he is judged to have reached "a satisfactory level of compliance." (Source: CIA)

September 10, 2002

Custer recommends combining the FBI's behavioral analysis unit and the military behavioral science teams to use both military and law enforcement approaches.

Law enforcement staff object to use of the term "Battle Lab" to describe operations, and the implications of experimental, unproven, and untrained techniques on individuals who are awaiting trial. (Source: SASC report, p. 43)

September 11, 2002

Khalid Sheik Mohammed's two sons, aged about nine and seven, and perhaps his wife, are also captured in Karachi. (Sources: Telegraph, 3/9/2003; Asia Times, 10/30/2002, with crude disinformation)

Around September 11, 2002

Ramzi bin al-Shibh is flown from Karachi to Bagram Air Base, and then a CIA facility nearby. (Source: AP timeline)

On an unknown date, FBI Agents travel to a CIA black site to interrogate bin al-Shibh. According to an FBI Assistant Chief, the detainees are manacled to the ceiling and subjected to blaring music (Source: OIG report, p. 74). According to the AP timeline, this would be at the Bagram facility.

September 17, 2002

September 19, 2002

September 23, 2002

A CITF member emails concerns about DOD proposed techniques for use on Mohammad al-Khatani:

"drive the hooded detainee around the island to disorient him, disrobe him to his underwear, have an interrogator with an Egyptian accent (it is known among the detainees that Egyptians are aggressive interrogators and commonly use coercion, to include maiming)"

October 2002

October 1, 2002

October 2, 2002

Two Guantanamo behavioral scientists who had attended the SERE training at Fort Bragg draft a memo proposing new interrogation techniques for use at Gitmo. There was "increasing pressure to get 'tougher' with detainee interrogations." (Source: SASC report, pp. xvii, 38, 50)

Category III includes continual 20 hour interrogations, strict isolation without the medical and ICRC visit, threats of pain and death, non-injurious physical consequences, removal of clothing, and exposure to cold weather or water until such time as the detainee began to shiver.

Recommendations for treatment in cell blocks include sleep deprivation, deprivation of comfort items, control of Korans, and white noise. "All aspects of the environment should enhance capture shock, dislocate expectations, foster dependence, and support exploitation to the fullest extent possible."

The meeting is dominated by a discussion of aggressive interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, death threats, and waterboarding, which was discussed in relation to its use in SERE training.

October 5, 2002

October 7, 2002

President George Bush gives a speech in Cincinnati, saying "We've learned that Iraq has trained Al Qaeda members in bomb making and poisons and deadly gases." This claim would come from the interrogation in Egypt of Ibn al-Shakyh al-Libi.

October 8, 2002

Maher Arar is rendered to Syria, via Jordan. In Syria, Arar is held in a lightless rat-infested three-foot by six-foot cell. He is beaten regularly with shredded cables.

Military interrogators plan to stop the interrogation of Mohammad al-Khatani, because of negative results. (Source: SASC report, p. 60)

Early November 2002

Air Force, Navy Marine, and Army lawyers express objections or concerns about the October 11 memo. DOD general counsel Jim Haynes and General Myers quash a legal review by Joint Staff counsel Jane Dalton. (Source: SASC report, pp. 67-72)

Abd al-Nashiri is captured, perhaps in Dubai (Sources: CNN, 11/22/2002, AP, 8/7/2010). He is taken to the Salt Pit, and then the black site in Thailand, before being transported to Poland on December 5 (Source: AP, 8/7/2010).

November 12, 2002

Approval of a JPRA training course for interrogators at Guantanamo, conducted in mid to late November.

November 15, 2002

CIA IG report reference to the authorization of the interrogation of al-Nashiri.

On November 15 to 17, email traffic between CIA field and headquarters, expressing concerns about the videotapes, discussion between attorneys about destroying the tapes, and a plan for a random independent review (Source: Vaughn index, pp. 95, 97, 101). This seems to be the genesis of what became the OGC review of the tapes. (Source: emptywheel)

November 16, 2002

A CIA site report makes the first known dated reference to the interrogation of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (Source: Vaughn index)

November 19, 2002

In November and December, CIA counsel travels to a field station, to review the interrogation videotapes for compliance with the August 2002 opinion and to compare the events with reports to headquarters (Sources: Vaughn index, pp. 23, 25; CIA IG report, p. 36.) The CIA lawyer may be John McPherson (Discussion: emptywheel).

At the Salt Pit prison near Kabul, Gul Rahman is shackled half-naked in a cold cell. He is dead of exposure by morning. (Sources: AP; WaPo, 3/3/2005)

Before November 23, 2003

After three months in isolation, Mohammed al-Qahtani is showing signs of severe mental deterioration. He spends much of his day covered by a sheet, crouching in the corner of his cell or hunched on his knees on top of his bed. He is observed by a hidden video camera having conversations with non-existent people, and reports hearing unusual sounds. (Discussion: Stephen Soldz)

Videotapes of Qahatani from this period will later be ordered produced in court battles. (Discussion: Daphne Eviatar)

Shortly before his military interrogation plan begins, al-Qahtani is moved from the Navy brig to Camp X-Ray, with a ruse to make him think he has been rendered to a hostile country that practices torture. (Source: SASC report, p. 88)

November 23, 2002

First Special Interrogation Plan - An interrogation plan is initiated for Muhammed al-Qahtani.

2:25 a.m. - Al-Qahtani is taken to an interrogation booth at Camp X-Ray. His hood is removed and he is bolted to the floor. An extensive log of his interrogations and sleep deprivation program will be taken, ending on January 11.

An FBI agent warns his superiors that several of the techniques being considered are not permitted by the constitution, and that others violate the Torture Statute. (Source: GWU)

CIA cable from the field to headquarters, requesting destruction of the interrogation videotapes. (Source: Vaughn index)

CIA cable from headquarters to field, about disposition of the tapes. (Source: Vaughn index)

December 2002

December 2, 2002

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld approves coercive interrogation techniques for use at Guantanamo. This is the memo with Rumsfeld's notation "However, I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?" Techniques include:

Yelling

Multiple interrogators

False flag

False dossier

Isolation

Sensory deprivation

Hooding

20 hour interrogations

Cold meals

Removal of clothing

Forced grooming

Use of phobias including dogs

Physical contact such as poking and pushing

December 3, 2002

CIA discusses a plan for destruction of videotapes, partly in the context of the closing of a facility. (Source: Vaughn index, pp. 15, 91; Discussion: emptywheel)

December 6, 2002

A CIA officer prepares a 3-page memorandum for the record, relating to an investigation pertaining to a prisoner. (Source: Vaughn index)

December 7, 2002

10:50 p.m. - Following 2 weeks of sleep deprivation, Muhammed al-Qahtani is measured with a heart rate of 35 bpm. He spends most of the next day sleeping in the hospital, before his interrogation program is resumed. (Source: interrogation log)

On an unknown day in December, a Navy nurse tells an FBI agent that a detainee had been admitted to the hospital with hypothermia. From context, the detainee may be al-Qahtani. (Source: FBI email)

December 10, 2002

Dilawar dies, Bagram.

LTC Ted Moss drafts an SOP for use of SERE techniques at Guantanamo. (Source: GWU)

2003

January 2003

January 3, 2003

January 9, 2003

Defense Intelligence Agency director Lowell Jacoby submits a declaration in the Padilla case. Lowell asserts that granting Padilla even limited access to counsel would break the sense of dependency that the interrogation program seeks to establish.

As part of an OGC review of certain interrogations, a CIA attorney writes a review of the interrogation videotapes. The review contains views about what facts would be relevant to determining the legality of the interrogaion of Abu Zubaydah. (Sources: Vaughn index; Hilton declaration; Discussion: emptywheel)

January 11, 2003

7:00 a.m. - At Guantanamo, Muhammed al-Qahtani is granted a period of sleep. The 50-day log of his interrogation and sleep deprivation program ends.

January 13, 2003

A CIA officer sends a memo to a CIA attorney, discussing the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah. The document is prepared to help the CIA attorney provide legal counsel to a client. (Source: Vaughn index)

Canadian RCMP officer, D. D. Fiorido visits Damascus, where Mahar Arar and Abdullah Almalki are being held. His report says that “in both cases, no new information was obtained.” After this, Almalki's interrogators no longer try to hide that reports are coming from Canada. (Source: Almalki chronology)

January 15, 2003

Navy counsel Alberto Mora threatens to send a memo to DOD general counsel Jim Haynes, stating on-the-record opposition to interrogation techniques as against the law, unless Mora hears that techniques have been suspended. (Source: Mora memo)

Rumsfeld, General Hill, and General Miller are involved in back and forth about whether to continue the techniques.

Rumsfeld directs DOD counsel to establish a working group on detainee interrogations. The group will issue a report on April 4.

At Guantanamo, use of aggressive techniques on Mohammad al-Khatani is suspended. (Source: SASC report, p. xxi)

SERE instructors John Rankin and Christopher Ross deliver a report on the early January instruction they led at Guantanamo. (Source: GWU)

January 16, 2003

An interrogation plan is issued for Mohamadou Walid Slahi. The plan is modeled on al-Khatani's plan. It may not have been put into effect untill June.

January 17, 2003

Unknown persons write a memo describing the techniques used on Mohammad al-Qahtani. These include shackling, stress positions, stripping, forced grooming, invasion of space by a female interrogator, treating him like an animal, use of dogs, and forcing him to pray to an idol shrine.

January 21, 2003

General Miller sends General Hill a list of "essential" techniques, including an isolation facility, interrogation outside interrogation rooms, sensory deprivation or manipulation including light and noise, 20-hour interrogations, hooding, cold meals, forced grooming, and the file and dossier technique.

A new Standard Operating Procedure for intelligence operations at Guantanamo is issued.

The OSD Working Group tasks the DIA to compile a list of possible interrogation techniques regardless of legality. (Source: DOD IG report on use of mind-altering drugs, p. 9)

About January 22, 2003

Sometime between January 18 and 29, John Yoo at OLC produces a draft legal memo on interrogation techniques. The one copy of the opinion is kept in the office of Air Force general counsel Mary Walker. The memo is an effective end run on interagency interrogation working group recommendations. (Source: Mora memo; Discussion: New Yorker)

January 23, 2003

Sometime in January, CIA DDO James Pavitt informs OIG that he had received allegations that CIA personnel had used unauthorized interrogation techniques on Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri at a black site, and requests that OIG investigate. The date of this event is speculative. (Source: CIA IG report)

Following from this, in January the CIA OIG initiates the review of counterterrorism detention and interrogation. (Sources: CIA IG report; Rhea declaration, 1/10/2008)

January 24, 2003

At Guantanamo, MP Sean Baker is badly beaten in a training exercise for an internal reaction force team. The IRF soldiers do not know that Baker is American.(Source: CBS)

The Staff Judge Advocate for conventional forces in Afghanistan produces an interrogation techniques memo. The memo recommends removal of clothing and use of dogs. The techniques are divided into "battlefield" and Bagram sections. (Sources: SASC report, p. xxiii; DOJ IG report, p. 59)

January 31, 2003

February 2003

February 1, 2003

Colin Powell is told of the al-Libi claims about contacts between al-Qaeda and Baghdad. Because of this, Powell changes his mind and includes the claims in his U.N. speech. He is told that the claims are recent, not one year old. (Source: Larry Wilkerson via Spencer Ackerman. Discussion: emptywheel.)

February 4, 2003

The interrogation working group issues a draft report. The technique list is virtually the same as the previous version, but references to SERE are excluded.

February 11, 2003

February 12, 2003

General Miller briefs Paul Wolfowitz.

February 17, 2003

Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr (Abu Omar) is captured by the CIA in Milan. Nasr is flown via the Ramstein base in Germany to Egypt, where he is tortured. His rendition will be the subject of an Italian court case in 2007. (Sources: London Review of Books; Reprieve).

February 22, 2003

At about this date, CIA and White House officials meet to craft a response to Jane Harman's letter. (Source: Vaughn index; Discussion: emptywheel)

After March 1, 2003

March 5, 2003

Khan and his brother are taken to a Pakistani interrogation center. Americans subject him to stress positions, sleep deprivation, beatings, and cramped confinement in a room with mosquitoes. At this detention facility, two of Khalid Sheik Mohammed's children are being held in a separate area. (Source: Ali Khan statement, at p. 12)

March 7, 2003

Stephen Cambone is confirmed by the Senate in the new position of Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.

March 8, 2003

A meeting of Pentagon lawyers including Jim Haynes, possibly in relation to the Mora objections, concludes "we need a presidential letter approving the use of the controversial interrogation to cover those who may be called upon to use them." (Source: ABC)

March 9, 2003

The Telegraph reports on the capture and holding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's two sons, and the use of them in attempts to break him.

"We are handling them with kid gloves. After all, they are only little children," said one official, "but we need to know as much about their father's recent activities as possible."

"His sons are important to him. The promise of their release and their return to Pakistan may be the psychological lever we need to break him."

March 12, 2003

Donald Rumsfeld, Jim Haynes, General Hill, and General Myers attend a meeting about interrogation. General Myers raises concerns about legality.

March 13, 2003

Jay Bybee is confirmed by the Senate as judge on the ninth circuit. He resigns his position with the OLC on March 28.

March 14, 2003

Torture memo - John Yoo sends an opinion to Jim Haynes, governing DOD interrogations. The memo asserts that prisoners held at offshore locations do not have constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment and have no guarantee of due process. Yoo also finds that federal laws such as those prohibiting torturing prisoners do not apply to interrogators in such settings, suggests defenses for interrogators if charges are brought and suggests that the president can waive international laws. (Discussion: Scott Horton; Dawn Johnson; Marty Lederman)

March 17, 2003

Jamal Naseer dies in U.S. custody at a forward collection point in Gardez, Afghanistan. Nasser was captured by Special Forces with a group of eight other Afghan army soldiers at the Sato Kandaw pass. The other soldiers report systematic abuse including beatings with sticks and cables, electric shocks, and cold water immersions.

March 19, 2003

The invasion of Iraq begins.

March 28, 2003

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld holds a meeting about the DOD working group report. Paul Wolfowitz, Jim Haynes, Stephen Cambone, Doug Feith, and General Myers are present. After the meeting, Rumsfeld decides to authorize the 24 April 16 techniques. (Source: Church report, pp. 135-136)

June 6, 2003

Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Abd al-Nashiri are flown from Poland, to the black site in Morocco. (Source: AP timeline)

June 8, 2003

Mohammad Farik bin Amin is captured in Bangkok. He is one of the 14 captives held at CIA black sites and later Guantanamo (Source: ICRC report, p. 5). His black site locations may include Diego Garcia (Source: Time)

June 12, 2003

A revised Standard Operating Procedure for intelligence operations at Guantanamo is issued.

June 13, 2003

Death from closed head injuries, Iraq.

June 16, 2003

The CIA traffics memos summarizing the applicable law to the detention and interrogation program. (Source: Vaughn index; Discussion: emptywheel)

June 19, 2003

A CIA officer in the field sends a summary of cable to CIA Headquarters. The document describes the capture, detention, and interrogation of a detainee, as well as the operational intelligence the detainee provided. (Source: Vaughn index)

According to a later memo for the record, the Attorney General confirms that DoJ approved of the expanded use of various EITs, including multiple applications of the waterboard (Sources: CIA IG report, pp. 5, 24; SSCI narrative). Ashcroft will dispute this. (Source: emptywheel I; II)

The officials are briefed concerning the number of times the waterboard had been administered. (Source: Goldsmith memo])

A 19-page powerpoint presentation is used at the meeting. (Source: Vaughn index)

July 31, 2003

Four pages discussing a meeting on a classified intelligence program, as well as a legal analysis of the enhanced techniques. Perhaps the memo for the record about the July 29 principals meeting. (Source: Vaughn index)

Guantanamo captive Martin Mubanga undergoes an intensive interrogation, at the direction of an MP.

August 2003

August 4, 2003

August 11, 2003

Mohammad Nazir bin Lep is captured in Bangkok. Encep Nuraman a.k.a. Hambali is captured in Ayutthaya, Thailand. They are both among the 14 captives held at CIA black sites and later Guantanamo (Source: ICRC report, p. 5). Their black site locations may include Diego Garcia (Source: Time)

August 26, 2003

August 28, 2003

After more than a year in a dark grave-like cell in Damascus, Canadian Abdullah Almalki is transferred to another location. For ten days, he is put in a crowded holding cell with 25 other people. (Source: Almalki chronology)

August 31 to September 9, 2003

Major General Geoffrey Miller, commander of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, leads a survey team to plan intelligence, interrogation, and detention operations in Iraq.

September 5, 2003

September 6, 2003

In Syria, Canadian Abdullah Almalki is transferred to Sednaya prison. Almalki and the other new arrivals are beaten on the soles of their feet. The torture is different than what Almalki has experienced: it is short and intense and does not involve questioning. For the first ten days, Almalki is held in a cold dark filthridden five by five cell. (Source: Almalki chronology)

September 9, 2003

General Miller delivers a set of recommendations for Iraq. Guantanamo Bay should be used as a baseline. Interrogation in Iraq should be consolidated in one place. MPs should work to set the conditions for interrogation.

September 11, 2003

DOJ declines to prosecute the handgun and power drill threats against Al-Nashiri, and turns the matter over to CIA for disposition. (Source: CIA IG report, p. 42)

September 12, 2003

A one page memo requesting legal advice is produced. The document will be discovered missing in 2009. (Source: Vaughn index)

September 14, 2003

General Ricardo Sanchez issues an interrogation policy for Iraq. The policy will be revised on October 12.

September 17, 2003

At Sednaya prison near Damascus, Canadian Abdullah Almalki is transferred to a better wing. He meets Mahar Arar there. (Source: Almalki chronology)

The flight then stopped in Rabat, Morocco, before proceeding to Guantanamo.

October 2003

October 2, 2003

Canadian Ahmed Said Khadr is killed in a Pakastani army raid near the border in Waziristan. (Reports about his death on this date are conflicting.) (Source: Almalki chronology)

October 5, 2003

Mahar Arar is released from prison in Syria. He returns to Canada. (Source: Almalki chronology)

October 6, 2003

11-pages of handwritten notes and cable summaries, from an interview with a CIA officer. (Source: Vaughn index)

October 7, 2003

At Abu Ghraib, three MI soldiers and a contract interpreter sexually assault two young female captives during a late-night interrogation. The soldiers have a service history at Bagram. (Source: Fay report)

October 25, 2003

Detainee "Gus" is photographed being led on a leash by Lynndie England.

MI and MP soldiers abuse three captives who are photographed shackled naked on the floor.

October 26, 2003

At Abu Ghraib, Amjed Waleed is raped with an object in his cell. (Sources: Waleed; Mustafa; Hilas)

October 27, 2003

Car bomb attacks on International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters and three police stations in Baghdad.

November 2003

November 4, 2003

Manadel al-Jamadi dies during CIA interrogation at Abu Ghraib. He is badly beaten during and after capture by Navy Seals and the CIA. After being taken to Abu Ghraib, he dies hanging from his arms, shackled to a window bars in a shower room used for interrogations.

Abu Ghraib photo - The iconic photographs of detainee "Gilligan" are taken at Abu Ghraib.

Mahar Arar tells his story publicly for the first time. He talks about having seen Abdullah Almalki at Sednaya Prison, and about how badly he has been treated. (Source: Almalki chronology)

The Almalki family begins talking to media and pushing harder on the Canadian government. (Source: Almalki chronology)

November 6, 2003

Death by multiple blunt forces injuries at FOB Gereshk in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

November 7 to 9, 2003

At Abu Ghraib, seven detainees are abused in the "human pyramid" incident and following abuse.

November 18, 2003

Jack Goldsmith at OLC sends a memo to the DOD, concerning the Geneva Conventions and the detention and treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. (Source: Bradbury declaration)

November 25, 2003

November 26, 2003

At al-Asad airbase in Anbar province, former Iraqi General Abed Hamed Mowhoush dies of asphyxiation after being stuffed head-first into a sleeping bag and wrapped with an electrical cord. His death follows several days of interrogation and beatings that included at least one CIA officer. (Sources: Wikipedia; LA Times, 1/20/2006; WaPo, 8/3/2005)

The military issues a statement. “Mowhoush said he didn’t feel well and subsequently lost consciousness.” “The soldier questioning him found no pulse, then conducted CPR and called for medical authorities. According to the on-site surgeon, it appeared Mowhouse died of natural causes.”

December 2003

December 12, 2003

Dog bite incident at Abu Ghraib.

Late December, 2003

The period for "standard" sleep deprivation is reduced from 72 to 48 hours. (Source: CIA IG report, p. 30)

2004

January 2004

January 9, 2004

At al-Asad airbase in Anbar province, former Iraqi General Asad Abdul Kareem Abdul Jaleel dies of blunt force injuries and asphyxia. Jaleel dies while shackled to a doorframe, after beatings that had fractured most of his ribs and left a ring of bruises around his torso. (Sources: autopsy; Speigel TV, 5/15/2004)

January 13, 2004

Khaled al-Maqtari is captured in Fallujah and sent to Abu Ghraib. On his first night, he is suspended from his feet and bounced up and down on a chain and pulley contraption. He will spend nine days at Abu Ghraib, three months in a dark prison in Afghanistan, more than two years at a black site prison, perhaps in Europe, and some eight months in a jail in Yemen. (Source: Amnesty International)

At Abu Ghraib, SPC Joseph Darby leaves two CDs of abuse photos and videos in the room of CID investigators.

A 44-page memo, with attached emails and cables, commenting on a draft report relating to the CIA detention and interrogation program. (Source: Vaughn index)

January 19, 2004

General Ricardo Sanchez orders an investigation of the Abu Ghraib abuse.

January 22 or 23, 2004

January 31, 2004

General Taguba is appointed to conduct an investigation of MPs at Abu Ghraib.

February 2004

February 2, 2004

The CIA sends to DOJ a guide on HVD interrogation training and techniques. (Source: Vaughn index)

About February 4, 2004

Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi tells CIA debriefers that he had fabricated his story that Saddam Hussein's regime had helped train Al Qaeda in chemical and biological weapons, only after his Egyptian interrogators had crammed him into a tiny box for 17 hours. (Sources: Newsweek; ABC)

February 24, 2004

March 2004

In Iraq, a DOD interrogator pours water down the throat of Saleh Mukleif Saleh and another detainee held in a cuffed (and presumably backwards) kneeling position. Four FBI agents are present. (Source: DOJ IG report)

In early 2004 generally, Saleh is cuffed in a "scorpion" stress position, beaten, forced to drink water until he vomits, dragged across barbed wire, and subjected to loud music.

An FBI agent participates in blindfolding a detainee with duct tape.

March 2004 Afghanistan Policy. In Afghanistan, the DOD adds dietary manipulation, environmental manipulation, and false flag to the list of techniques, and relaxes prohibitions on hooding and stress positions. (Source: DOJ IG report)

Emails to supervisors from two military commissions prosecutors, Major Robert Preston and Captain John Carr, call the procedures rigged. (Source: ABC Australia)

March 1, 2004

Canadian Abdullah Almalki is transferred from Sednaya prison to another location. He is put in a crowded underground holding cell with up to twenty six people. (Source: Almalki chronology)

The tape of the interrogation will later disappear. (Source: Newsweek; Discussion: emptywheel)

Padilla’s lawyers will say that something happened during the interrogation that leads Padilla to believe that the lawyers are actually government agents. (Source: History Commons)

Jose Padilla is granted contact with his lawyers. He has been held in complete isolation in a 9x7 cell since June 9, 2002 (Source: Motion to dismiss). According to Newsweek, this is after the interrogation.

March 12, 2004

March 18, 2004

Jack Goldsmith at OLC sends a memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, asserting exceptions to Geneva Conventions protection for detainees in Iraq. Non-Iraqi members of al-Qaeda are not "protected persons."

A DIA-affiliated field interrogator chokes and kicks detainees during a raid on Miam Do village, Afghanistan. (Source: DIA referral)

March 19, 2004

Jack Goldsmith at OLC drafts a memo finding that the U.S. can remove some people from Iraq.

March 27, 2004

Guantanamo prisoners, including Ramzi bin al-Shibh, are transferred to the black site near Rabat, Morocco. The move from Guantanamo is ahead of the Rasul decision on Guantanamo rights. (Sources: AP, 8/2010; AP timeline)

March 30, 2004

The CIA Office of Inspector General refers a case to DOJ. (Source: DOJ IG report)

April 2004

April 23, 2004

OLC advises DOD that four techniques are lawful for use on a specific detainee at Guantanamo (Source: Goldsmith memo, 5/11/2004).

Pride and ego down

Mutt and Jeff

Reward and removal of privilege

Isolation for 60 days

April 28, 2004

Hamdi and Padilla are argued before the Supreme Court. Solicitor General Paul Clement assures the Court that we don't torture.

May 2004

After the Abu Ghraib scandal broke:

The FBI instructs its agents to report known or suspected abuse or mistreatment. (Source: DOJ IG report)

CIA counsel Scott Muller, NSC lawyer John Bellinger, OVP counsel David Addington, and White House counsel White House counsel Alberto Gonzales discuss the Abu Ghraib scandal at a meeting. Bellinger asks if the CIA has any photos that could cause a scandal, and is told about the torture tapes. Addington instructs Muller not to destroy the tapes, with the agreement of Bellinger and Gonzales. (Source: AP, 7/26/2010)

May 3, 2004

May 6, 2004

May 7, 2004

CIA IG Report - The CIA Inspector General produces the special review on counterterrorism and interrogation activities. The report finds torture program activities to be cruel and inhuman.

At Guantanamo, Mohammad Jawad undergoes 14 days of the "frequent flyer" sleep deprivation program. Jawad is not considered to possess any intelligence value, and he is not questioned or interrogated at or near this time. (Source: Defense closing argument; Discussion: Daphne Eviatar)

Around May 11, 2004

Two Defense Intelligence Agency interrogators observe and report abuse by Task Force 6-26 officers at a holding site in Baghdad, including burn marks. DIA photos of the abuse are confiscated, and the reporting interrogators are threatened. (Sources: DIA memo for record; DIA memo)

May 11, 2004

Jack Goldsmith at OLC writes a memo for the files, "Advice to the Department of Defense on Interrogations." The memo notes that four techniques have been concluded to be lawful by the DOD working group:

May 19, 2004

Following the Abu Ghraib disclosures, FBI general counsel issues guidance for dealing with detainees. FBI agents must remove themselves from interrogations not according to FBI guidelines, even where co-interrogators are following the rules of their own agency. (Source: DOJ IG report)

May 25, 2004

Jack Goldsmith at OLC asks CIA inspector general John Helgerson for the opportunity to review the IG report before it is sent to Congress.

May 27, 2004

Jack Goldsmith at OLC sends a memo to Scott Muller at the CIA, discussing review of the IG report, and differences between factual assumptions in the approvals, and the actual practice of techniques, particularly waterboarding.

June 8, 2004

June 10, 2004

Jack Goldsmith at OLC sends a letter to CIA general counsel Scott Muller, saying that CIA the "Legal Principles" document does not constitute an official OLC opinion. (See: March 2; Discussion: emptywheel)

Goldsmith memorializes a conversation with John Yoo about Yoo's advice to Bill Haynes in November and December 2002. (Sources: [4], p. 75; Vaughn index)

June 28, 2004

Rasul - The Supreme Court issues a decision in Rasul v. Bush, the first detainee habeas corpus submission to have reached the court.

The court dismisses the argument that Guantanamo is beyond the reach of US law.

The court holds that the Executive Branch lacks the authority to deny captives access to the US justice system, and that the captives did have the right to initiate habeas corpus submissions.

The court holds that the Executive Branch was obliged to provide the captives with an opportunity to hear and attempt to refute whatever evidence had caused them to have been classified as "enemy combatants".

As a result, the Department of Defense will create the Combatant Status Review Tribunals.

Hamdi - The Supreme Court also issues a decision in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. Hamdi is an American citizen classified as an “enemy combatant,” and held at the Charleston brig.

The court holds that due process demands that a citizen held in the United States as an enemy combatant be given a meaningful opportunity to contest the factual basis for that detention before a neutral decisionmaker.

June 29, 2004

OLC prepares a draft memo to CIA, confirming legal advice, which was initially given orally, on whether a detainee is considered a protected person if involved in counterterrorism activities and captured. (Source: Vaughn index)

July 2004

July 2, 2004

Scott Muller at CIA meets with Attorney General John Ashcroft and Deputy Attorney General James Comey, to discuss the use of interrogation techniques on CIA detainee Janat Gul. After the meeting, Ashcroft and Comey confer with Jack Goldsmith, leading to Goldsmith’s letter to Muller approving all of the techniques described in the Bybee memo except for waterboarding. (Sources: Goldsmith letter, 7/7/2004; Bybee response; Discussion: emptywheel.)

CIA sends a memo to OLC, about approval of techniques used on a specific detainee. (Source: Vaughn index)

CIA sends a memo to DOJ, about the CIA securing custody of a detainee, and interrogation methods. (Source: Vaughn index)

Jack Goldsmith at OLC sends a letter to Scott Muller at CIA about conditions and approval of interrogation techniques on a specific unnamed detainee, likely Janat Gul.

Navy counsel Alberto Mora sends a memo to Vice Admiral Albert Church, giving a chronology of his objection to techniques. (Discussion: New Yorker)

July 14, 2004

In unclassified written testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, an Associate Deputy Attorney General explains OLC's Fifth Amendment “shocks the conscience” standard, and their view that Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment has no application to the treatment of detainees. (Source: SSCI narrative)

On July 14 and 15, OLC makes ten memos for the record on whether a captured member of a terrorist network is protected by international law. (Source: Vaughn index)

July 29, 2004

July 30, 2004

CIA sends a memo to OLC, about interrogation techniques for a specific detainee. (Source: Vaughn index)

Jack Goldsmith serves his last day as OLC head. Dan Levin takes over as acting OLC head.

August 2004

August 2, 2004

John Rizzo at CIA sends a letter to Dan Levin at DOJ, describing proposed waterboarding of a detainee, presumably Hassan Ghul (Sources: DOJ letter, 8/6/2004; CAT memo, 5/30/2005; Discussion: emptywheel). A Vaughn index entry that seems to be about this document lists three pages as being blank.

August 6, 2004

Daniel Levin at DOJ sends a letter to John Rizzo at CIA, approving thirty days of waterboarding on a specific detainee. The detainee may be Hassan Ghul. (Discussion: emptywheel)

August 19, 2004

August 25, 2004

A letter describes the interrogation of Hassan Ghul. This letter may be seeking approval of the second set of four techniques. (Source: CAT memo, 5/30/2005, p. 7; Discussion: emptywheel. The year of this letter is redacted in the source reference, but 2004 fits with other events.)

They later concluded that "more subtle interrogation measures designed more to weaken [Gul's] physical ability and mental desire to resist interrogation over the long run are likely to be more effective." and seek authorization to use dietary manipulation, nudity, water dousing, and abdominal slap."

August 26, 2004

Dan Levin at OLC sends a letter to John Rizzo at CIA, authorizing four techniques on a specific detainee. The techniques are dietary manipulation, nudity, water dousing, and abdominal slaps. The detainee may be Hassan Ghul.

December 6, 2004

December 30, 2004

Background paper - The CIA faxes a background paper to Dan Levin at OLC, providing generic descriptions of the rendition and interrogation process and the CIA’s combined use of various interrogation techniques.

"The goal of interrogation is to produce a state of learned helplessness and dependence conducive to the collection of intelligence".

April 2005

April 8, 2005

April 20, 2005

DOJ announces Jim Comey's resignation.

April 22, 2005

Patrick Philbin, Alberto Gonzales, Steven Bradbury and James Comey meet in the AG conference room. Comey expresses grave reservations about the combined effects opinion. Gonzales explains that he is under great pressure from Dick Cheney to release the memo. (Source: Comey email, 4/27/2005)

November 5, 2005

Following the Rodriquez request, CIA Thailand station chief Mike Winograd requests destruction of the torture tapes. The justification given is that inspector general had completed its investigation, and McPherson had verified that the cables accurately summarized the tapes. (Source: AP, 7/26/2010)

November 7, 2005

The Supreme Court issues certiorari to hear Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

November 8, 2005

CIA clandestine service head Jose Rodriguez sends Thailand his approval to destroy the torture tapes. He and his chief of staff are the only names on the cable, and the action is not notified to others. (Source: AP, 7/26/2010)

60 people are killed in coordinated bombings of three hotels in Amman, Jordan.

The New York Timesexposes details of the CIA IG report, and its conclusion that the techniques appeared to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

November 10, 2005

At CIA, Porter Goss and John Rizzo find out about destruction of the tapes. (Sources: AP, 7/26/2010)

November 14, 2005

CIA makes a court declaration, denying that the government has tapes of interrogations of a specific detainee. The government had successfully requested not to be required to reply about tapes for any detainee. (Source: DOJ)

November 18, 2005

ABC News reports on interrogation techniques, including waterboarding. The report discloses techniques in effect in Mid March 2002.

November 22, 2005

DOJ unseals an indictment against Jose Padilla. The federal indictment heads off a Supreme Court showdown over military detention policies. The charges are unrelated to any previous government allegations. (Sources: CNN; WaPo)

December 2005

December 1, 2005

John Yoo asserts, in debate, that the president can order the crushing of the testicles of a child. (Source: Youtube of the exchange)

December 18, 2005

Humand Rights Watch reports on detainees held at the Dark Prison in Afghanistan. (Source: New York Times, 12/18/2005)

December 21, 2005

Senators Lindsey Graham and Jon Kyl insert a colloquy into the Congressional Record, faked to appear live, establishing "legislative history" that Congress is aware the Detainee Treatment Act would strip the Supreme Court of jurisdiction to hear pending cases including Hamdan. (Source: Slate)

Section 1004 helps to immunize officials from accountability for violations.

Section 1005 sets Combatant Status Review Tribunals and Administrative Review Boards as exclusive remedy for challenging status. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has exclusive, but limited, jurisdiction to hear appeals. Subsequent captives are restricted from initiating habeas corpus submissions.

February 2006

March 2006

March 28, 2006

April 2006

April 18, 2006

The International Committee of the Red Cross transmits an intervention report on undisclosed detention to U.S. authorities. (Source: ICRC report, 2/14/2007, p. 3)

April 20, 2006

The CIA fires officer Mary McCarthy, presumably on suspicion of having shared classified information with journalists, including Dana Priest at the Washington Post. (Source: WaPo)

May 2006

May 18, 2006

At Guantanamo, two detainees try to commit suicide with hoarded medication, and six detainees are injured in a "melee" with guards. (Source: WaPo, 5/19/2006)

May 19, 2006

The UN Committee Against Torture publishes a report about U.S. black site and rendition practices.

May 26, 2006

A draft detainee policy is circulated at the White House. (Source: routing sheet)

June 2006

June 6, 2006

The Pentagon announces a change in policy, and will now use psychologists but not psychiatrists in the behavioral science consultation teams that assist interrogations. This follows from a vote at the American Psychiatric Association that discourages members from participating in the efforts. (Source: NYT)

June 9, 2006

At Guantanamo, Shaker Aamer undergoes a brutal interrogation while strapped to a chair. Aamer is choked and masked to prevent him from screaming. (Source: Declaration)

June 10, 2006

12:20 to 12:45 a.m. - At Guanatanamo, three detainees are discovered dead in their cells. The official cause of death is suicide by hanging. (Source: Seton Hall report; Discussion: emptywheel; Glenn Greenwald Scott Horton III)

June 29, 2006

The Supreme Court announces its decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The Court holds that President George W. Bush does not have authority to set up war crimes tribunals, and finds the special military commissions illegal under both military justice law and the Geneva Convention.

June 30, 2006

After Hamdan, Steve Bradbury at OLC orally advises CIA general counsel John Rizzo that conditions of confinement at CIA black sites are allowable under Common Article 3. The advice will be formalized on August 31.

July 2006

July 7, 2006

Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England issues a memo acknowledging the Hamdan decision. The memo asserts that aside from military commissions, DOD policies are in line with Common Article 3.

August 2006

August 6, 2006

CIA contractor David Passaro is convicted of assault in the June 2003 beating death of Abdul Wali. (Source: AP)

August 31, 2006

OLC sends a memo to John Rizzo at CIA, claiming that conditions of confinement at CIA black sites are allowable under the Detainee Treatment Act.

OLC also sends a letter to John Rizzo, claiming that conditions of confinement at CIA black sites are allowable under Common Article 3.

The memo and letter both address six confinement conditions:

Blindfolding.

Isolation.

White noise.

Constant lighting.

Shackling.

Forced grooming.

September 2006

September 5, 2006

September 6, 2006

The President publicly admits to the existence of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. He discloses that fourteen high value detainees have been transferred from black sites to Guantanamo. (Source: WaPo, 9/7/2006)

October 17, 2006

The President is authorized to establish military commission for trial of violations of the law of war. Rights to speedy trial, against self incrimination, and UCMJ procedures for pretrial investigation are specified not to apply. Geneva Conventions rights may not be invoked. Habeas corpus rights are denied.

The commissions have jurisdiction over "alien unlawful enemy combatants".

The act amends and restricts the War Crimes Act, listing nine specific grave breaches of Common Article 3.

Section 7 of the law will be found unconstitutional in Al Odah v. United States.

November 2006

December 2006

December 4, 2006

ICRC officials interview 14 detainees during a ten day visit to Gitmo.

2007

January 2007

February 2007

February 14, 2007

The International Committee of the Red Cross delivers a report on treatment of high value detainees to John Rizzo at CIA. The New York Review of Books will publish a leaked version of the report in April 2009.

"The allegations of ill-treatment of the detainees indicate that, in many cases, the ill-treatment to which they were subjected while held in the CIA program, either singly or in combination, constituted torture. In addition, many other elements of the ill-treatment, either singly or in combination, constituted cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."

March 2007

March 10, 2007

CSRT hearing for Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Mohammed admits to responsibility for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, 9/11, the murder of Daniel Pearl, assassination attempts or plots on Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Pope John Paul the second, and Pervez Musharaf, terrorist plots against the Library Tower, the Sears Tower, the Empire State Building, the Panama Canal, Heathrow Airport, Big Ben, and an oil company owned by Henry Kissenger, and numerous other plots.

March 14, 2007

March 26, 2007

David Hicks is the first person prosecuted by military commission. By pre-trial agreement, he is given an effective sentence of nine months in exchange for his guilty plea and compliance with other conditions. The sentence is served in Australia.

April 2007

April 15, 2007

May 2007

May 25, 2007

June 2007

June 4, 2007

Military tribunals dismiss charges against Omar Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Both dismissals hinge on "enemy combatant" status, with tribunal jurisdiction under the Military Commissions Act restricted to "unlawful enemy combatants."

Khadr's charges will be reinstated in September, after the Court of Military Commission Review overturns the dismissal.

Hamdan will be redesignated an "illegal enemy combatant" in December.

June 10, 2007

Three Guantanamo captives commit suicide.

June 19, 2007

July 2007

July 20, 2007

Steven Bradbury at OLC sends a memo to John Rizzo at CIA, authorizing dietary manipulation, sleep deprivation with diapers, and four physical techniques. The memo discusses the techniques under the cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment portion of the War Crimes Act. (Discussion: balkinization; Spencer Ackerman).

President George Bush issues an executive order, specifying limited compliance with the Geneva Conventions in the treatment of al Qaeda and Taliban captives held by the CIA, and asserts presidential authority to interpret the meaning and application of the conventions.

January 7, 2008

February 2008

February 5, 2008

CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee. He admits that waterboarding was used by the CIA, and names three victims: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

February 14, 2008

Steven Bradbury of the OLC testifies before the House Judiciary Committee. He admits that the CIA's use of waterboarding was adapted from the SERE program.

March 2008

March 31, 2008

April 2008

May 2008

May 13, 2008

DOD announces that the Convening Authority for military commissions has dismissed charges against Mohamed al-Khatani.

May 20, 2008

The DOJ Inspector General releases a report on FBI involvement in interrogations at Guantanamo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

May 29, 2008

Major David Frakt, defense counsel at Guantanmo, makes a report of law of armed conflict violations and torture in the treatment of Mohammed Jawad.

June 2008

June 12, 2008

Boumediene and Al Odah - The Supreme Courts issues a decision in Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. United States. The court holds that the prisoners have a right to the habeas corpus under the Constitution, and that the Military Commissions Act is an unconstitutional suspension of that right.

June 18, 2008

The House Judiciary Committee holds the first session of a hearing on administration development of legal rules for interrogation and detention.

June 26, 2008

* The House Judiciary Committee holds the second session of a hearing on administration development of legal rules for interrogation and detention.

July 2008

August 2008

August 6, 2008

A military tribunal convicts Salim Hamdan on five charges of material support for terrorism. He is acquitted on five other charges. (Discussion: Balkinization)

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This page was last modified 05:54, 12 July 2012 by dKosopedia user Garrett. Based on work by Robin Upton and Rich Wingerter and dKosopedia user(s) Walter. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.